This invention relates to an improved cooked legume product having a reduced solids content. By incorporating a starch component, preferably a modified food starch, during preparation of the product, particularly a refried bean product, the amount of bean solids is reduced and mechanical processing of the bean product is facilitated. The incorporation of starch also improves the consistency and stability of the finished bean product. The invention also relates to methods of preparing a stabilized cooked bean product having reduced bean solids content, yet having an improved viscosity, that is readily spoonable and is resistant to scorching during reheating of the bean product for consumption.
Refried beans are a popular food item common to Mexican and Southwestern cooking styles. Traditionally, refried beans are made from scratch using beans, water, oil, lard or other fat substances, and spices. Such preparation is time consuming and requires some level of culinary skill in order to achieve desired, consistent results.
Canned refried bean products provide a time-saving alternative to making refried beans from scratch. The canned product requires only reheating prior to consumption of the refried beans. As a result of the convenience and overall simplicity of canned refried beans, use of these products has become widespread, both by the food service trade and the individual consumer.
Canned refried beans typically include water, beans, such as pinto beans, and spices and other flavorants. The mixture is heated to fully cook the beans and to lower the water content to provide a desired final viscosity of the bean product. To complete processing, the bean product is filled into cans and subject to retorting.
Due in part to the starch content of the beans, as well as the high content of bean solids, the cooked bean product generally becomes very viscous prior to can-filling, essentially forming a paste. The bean starch tends to break down during the cooking process, producing a paste-like substance. The viscous nature of the bean paste may present concerns during processing. As the product becomes more viscous, it becomes more difficult to pump through process lines. Pumping difficulties may cause increased wear on the pumps, which in turn may result in additional maintenance requirements or more frequent replacement of the pumps. Additionally, as the product becomes less fluid-like, metering becomes less accurate and more difficult; in some cases, metering can become essentially impossible.
A high bean solids content also may result in the final bean product having undesirable and variable characteristics. Upon cooling, the canned bean product may become even more viscous and form a paste-gel product. This paste-gel product typically is not readily spoonable and thus is difficult to remove from the can. Moreover, the paste-gel texture of the product may be undesirable to consumers, as it does not resemble the texture of freshly made refried beans.
Conventional canned refried beans also tend to be less shelf stable and more variable than desired. As the refried beans are stored over time, water separates from the bean solids and forms a layer above the bean mass; such water separation is often observed within a few months of manufacturing. If the refried beans are reheated on a stove top for subsequent consumption, the ability to heat the beans evenly and to the desired temperature may be diminished as a result, in part, of the high bean solids content. Thus, the refried beans may easily be scorched during reheating. Moreover, the viscosity of the final product can vary significantly from batch to batch, often ranging from a semi-solid which is difficult to remove from the container to a soupy consistency with a overlying water layer.
Decreasing the solids content of the bean product by increasing the relative volume of water included in the product alone may not adequately remedy these problems. Although the viscosity of the bean product will decrease when an additional amount of water is used, the final bean product generally may not exhibit the desired characteristics of from-scratch refried beans (e.g., thick, chunky texture, flavorful bean taste, and the like).
Use of starch derivatives in textile, paper and prepared food applications has been reported. For such applications, the starch granules are often modified to change the chemical structure of the starch molecule, by methods including oxidation, esterification, and etherification. It is known that unmodified starch granules tend to swell and rupture relatively easily, producing weak-bodied cohesive pastes or undesirable gels. Thus, it is desirable to modify, typically through chemical treatment, a starch so that it will withstand conditions that otherwise would result in breakdown or gelation. Starch derivatives have been used to impart clarity, viscosity, and/or stability to the chosen product.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,947, a starch derivative for use with heat-processed foods, such as canned pie fillings, soups, sauces, and puddings, is described. The starch derivative is a hydroxypropylated, cross-linked, high amylopectin, low amylose starch derivative that is intended to be slurried for use in the retort media. The starch derivative is not fully functional during mixing and pumping but fully activates during retorting.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,447, a starch derivative useful in food applications that are typically subject to freeze-thaw cycles is described. The patent teaches isolation and purification of starch, followed by hydroxypropylation and cross-linking to provide the starch derivative. The starch derivative is used in food products to enhance freeze-thaw stability, as well as for providing thickening power, clarity, and stability. Representative applications described include products designed for freezing and products subject to multiple freeze-thaw cycles, such as pie and pastry fillings, puddings, custards, yogurts, salad dressings, pasta-type products, and baked goods.
There remains a need for compositions and processes related to leguminous products to enhance the preparation of such products, as well as to improve the characteristics of the final products. In particular, there is a need for compositions and methods that are readily processible and that will yield a containerized leguminous product having consistent characteristics similar to a leguminous product freshly made from scratch. Such compositions and methods should allow a reduced amount of legume solids to be used while maintaining the desired characteristics of the final product. The present invention addresses these needs.
The present invention provides compositions for preparing cooked leguminous food products having reduced amounts of legumes yet having enhanced texture and consistency. In important embodiments, the compositions include a modified food starch component for increasing the viscosity of the compositions and enhancing the stability of the cooked food product. The compositions are prepared by a process that includes blending a starch component as a slurry with legumes and water, such that the composition includes a reduced amount of legumes and an amount of a starch component effective for enhancing the viscosity of the composition, as well as the viscosity of the cooked product, cooking the composition and containerizing the cooked composition.
The refried bean product of this invention has a consistent xe2x80x9cspoonablexe2x80x9d viscosity which does not vary significantly from batch to batch. Moreover, by varying the starch and/or bean content, the viscosity can be adjusted as desired. The water-holding ability of the starch component improves the shelf stability of the cooked food product which maintains a blended composition for extended periods without separation of water from the legume mass. The water of the starch component also enhances reheating of the cooked product as the starch component will release water upon application of a heat source. The released water prevents scorching of the solid mass of the legume product, so that the product may be more evenly reheated to a desired temperature for consumption.
In important embodiments, the starch component is a food starch such as dent corn starch, waxy corn starch, potato starch, waxy potato starch, rice starch, sago starch, sorghum starch, waxy sorghum starch, tapioca starch, and wheat starch. Preferably, the starch component has been modified, such as by chemical treatment, so that the starch component is capable of withstanding the physical and chemical conditions associated with preparation of the cooked food product. Preferably, the composition includes no more than about 10 percent of the starch component.
In other important embodiments, the legumes are beans from plants of the Phaseolus genus, including navy, great northern, pinto, red, pink, black, and kidney beans, peas from plants of the Pisum genus, and chickpeas (i.e., garbanzo beans). In more preferred embodiments, the legumes are pinto beans. In additional preferred embodiments, the composition includes no more than about 25 percent beans, and more preferably about 19 to 22 percent beans.
The invention also provides methods of preparing a cooked leguminous food product from a composition that includes a reduced legume content. The method includes, in the process of making the food product, adding water to legumes to provide a composition having a reduced amount of legumes and a starch component to provide a predetermined viscosity of the composition, cooking the composition, and containerizing the cooked composition by subsequent mechanical processing of the composition which is facilitated by the viscosity of the composition.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a composition for a cooked leguminous food product comprising: (1) legumes; (2) water in an amount effective for providing a predetermined content of legumes in the composition; and (3) a starch component in an amount effective for providing a first predetermined viscosity of the composition during preparation of the food product for facilitating mechanical processing of the composition and for providing a second predetermined viscosity of the food product, wherein the food product remains stable while containerized, has a thickened consistency, and is readily spoonable.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a cooked bean composition having a reduced bean content for making a cooked bean product, the composition comprising: (1) beans; (2) water in an amount effective for providing the bean composition having no more than about 25 percent beans; and (3) a starch component in an amount effective for providing a first predetermined viscosity of the bean composition such that the composition is readily pumpable and a second predetermined viscosity of the cooked bean product such that the cooked bean product with a reduced bean content has enhanced texture and consistency.
In still another embodiment, the present invention provides a method of preparing a bean food product comprising: (1) providing an amount of beans; (2) blending water and a starch component with the beans to provide a mixture including a predetermined bean content; (3) heating the mixture to a temperature and for a time to provide a predetermined processing viscosity of the mixture effective for facilitating mechanical pumping and processing of the mixture; and (4) processing the mixture to provide a cooked bean food product having a predetermined final viscosity effective for enhancing the texture and consistency of the cooked bean product having a reduced bean content.